For much of my life I’ve been waiting for this moment. Even throughout my youth I glanced at the hairlines of relatives and wondered what would become of me. At the same time I figured medical science would have to have developed something by the time my hair would start falling out.

However, as I entered my thirties and began to look more and more like an octopus was attacking me when my hair got wet, there still seemed to be no true cure for baldness on the horizon. They were out there cloning sheep and growing ears on the backs of mice, but they still couldn’t give me a little action up top.

And just as I raised my razor to go the Bruce Willis route, a ray of hope shone on my news feed. It said that the cure to baldness actually lies inside me and my delicious stem cells, and that the key to unlocking it would be available in just three more years…

One of Japan’s most beloved dishes is tamago kake gohan which is simply a bowl of rice topped with a raw egg and a splash of soy sauce. While the thought of consuming raw egg might be off-putting to some people, here a TKG is about as commonplace as a PB&J would be in America.

In fact raw egg is used as a garnish for many other dishes as well, which might make you wonder why everyone in Japan isn’t constantly kneeling over a high-tech toilet bowl. Actually the problem of bacteria has been licked quite some time ago, but now a new danger in raw egg consumption looms: it’s thought to cause hair loss.

As someone whose locks started thinning when he was about 27 years old, I know how much of a shock it can be to learn that your body has seemingly decided to begin the follicle-retiring process without consulting you first. As nice as it would be to have a thick, flowing mane, though, the fact that pretty much every man on on my mother’s side of the family eventually lost their hair tells me that there’s not much point stressing about it – it’s going to happen, so why lose sleep as well as top turf?

For some, though, going bald can be pretty upsetting. If they’re on the lookout for a partner especially, thinning hair can certainly dent a man’s confidence. And, according to a recent survey, balding men may well be right in thinking that their lack of hair is affecting their chances of finding, or perhaps keeping, a good woman.

There are a number of theories regarding the causes of male pattern baldness. Some suggest that one’s diet and stress levels play key roles. Others feel that regular exercise will help keep locks thick and plentiful until well after retirement. Most would agree, though, that our genes hold the most sway, and if a man loses his hair then chances are his son, too, will have increasingly more face to wash as he ages.

Baldness affects some more than others, however, and a survey by Trip Advisor Japan has revealed the countries where male baldness is most common, with Japan found to have more bald men than any other Asian country.

A Japanese pub deep in the heart of white-collar Tokyo wants to help out their customers whose heads are showing the consequences of too much stress and hard work (and perhaps a bit of genetics too).

The restaurant hopes that instead of covering their heads with a complex comb-over or taking a cue from monks to shave it all off, “salarymen” white-collar workers treat their thinning hair as a badge of honor and proof of their dedication to help the struggling Japanese economy. And to show their support, the restaurant has announced a generous “balding discount” as a way of thanking follicly-challenged gents for sacrificing their precious locks for the country!

Whoever coined the phrase “Vanity, thy name is woman,” clearly was not a balding man. From implants to Rogaine, men (and some women) with thinning hair are willing to pay a lot of money to keep their cranium covered. A recent study suggest they might be better off making a trip to the greengrocer to return their locks to lusciousness.